Being exposed to numerous sources of leftist memes, I find myself exposed to an inordinate number or links to a seeming never ending stream of asshatery from Fox News. The leftists decry the blatant bias and utterly ridiculous shenagigans that pass for journalism, get all self rightous about how The Media is shaping the debate to the right, and go then go on about our business until the next clip arrives.

Why do we do this to ourselves? Why do we give this much attention to them? Why does every rational voter in the US know what a "birther" is? What if "death panels" meant Taliban-esque tribunals resulting in some poor schmuck getting decapitated? What if saying "...I read in the bible..." was as uncouth as farting during Larry King Live?

As long as eyeballs keep paying attention to the assinine antics of the left and their propoganda machine, they'll keep spewing out their sexist, racist, homophobic garbage. Each of us, in our daily lives, needs to treat people that far off of center with the same derision for any other willfully crazy person. There is no rational debate to engage them with; the facts have been published, the rest of the world has moved on. Anyone still stuck with their delusions needs to be treated as delusional. Ginger@large said everything that needs to be said about that.

I want to ask how do we move past the reactionary sense of futility and dismay, and make OUR voice the new center. We know our policies have a better cost benefit ratio for all but the richest. Where do we make that argument? How do we take our ideas out of the coffeeshops, and farmer's markets, nightclubs and daycares and put them on tv and in the papers? The right has done a fantastic job of convincing working class people that what's good for the bourgoise is good for us. They enlisted god, patriotism and stoked up the fear of the Other.

Even as an atheist, I see the value of supporting moderate and progressive churches. Not all theists are anti-choice homophobes. We must encourage them to enter the debate, even (gasp) relying on them to provide a counterbalance to the radicals. People need to know they can get their feelgood pie-in-the-sky fix without resorting to apocalyptic visions of an imminent rapture being brought on by encroaching numbers of unbelieving infidels single mindedly trying to destroy their world.

We need to call out the "moderate" media when they don't present the leftist viewpoint. To hell with Fox, but even CNN needs to hear a united voice from the public that we are sick of having the discussion being dominated by personalities that do not reflect the real world. Public tv is a battleground we MUST take the fight to, as well. Is a boycott a good tactic? The problem is, most of ARE boycotting those media, and that's why they've been able to shift rightward. The only people left watching are the people without the means to educate themselves via other mediums.

We need to stop the incursion into our schools by the reactionary right. We need to demand that our children have access to accurate, modern information about the world around us. They need accurate, unbiased information about history, science, mathmematics and especially their bodies and minds. It's hard enough growing up and dealing with puberty without the weight of politically motivated, religious guilt and misinformation.

Most importantly, we need to stand up and call out inanity when we see it. They'll say, "Everyone knows that" when you challenge their beliefs with established facts. Press them. Probe them until you make them admit their real intentions: to maintain a world of inequality and indifference to human suffering. Back them into intellectual corners from which they can only babble incoherent, disjointed "talking points" they picked up from Fox, then point them out for the unsustainable conjecture they are.